Middleware platforms, such as Tuxedo, provide support for distributed transaction processing in an enterprise-level computing environment. Such platforms, including Tuxedo, are particularly adept at unlocking enterprise legacy applications, and extending those enterprise legacy applications so that they can be used in a service-oriented manner, while at the same time delivering scalability and standards-based interoperability.
The term Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) generally refers to a more recent software strategy which organizes the discrete functions contained within enterprise applications into interoperable, standards-based services, which can then be combined and reused to meet particular business needs. The related Service Component Architecture (SCA) describes a model for building applications and systems using SOA, and further builds on open standards, such as Web services, to extend and complement existing SOA approaches. The eXtreme Transaction Processing (XTP) describes an application style aimed at implementing large-scale, business-critical, transactional applications on the basis of distributed architectures, which in turn are implemented by leveraging commodity hardware and standards-based software.
These are the general environments within which embodiments of the present invention are intended to be used.